We all know what KDE stands for, right? Unless you're new here, you'll know that it stands for the K Desktop Environment. While this certainly covers a large chunk of what KDE stands for, it has increasingly lost its meaning over the past few years. Consequently, the KDE team has decided to 'reposition' the KDE brand.

Why not "KDE Software Kompilation"? Then it's like KSK, the german "Kommando Spezialkräfte" (Command Special Forces). :-)

That makes it sound like shit was just randomly thrown together. Am I the only one who sees it that way? Definitely unhappy with this.

Hmm... I would tend to exchange "randomly" with "arbitrary", with no deprecative implication, just as you could say the same about the various different Linux distributions that differ in the set of software they come with; the distributor chooses what to include and what not to include.

"Compilation" or "distribution"? Maybe KDE should really follow the idea to create their own Linux distribution that is really fitting KDE's needs, so they would have the "brand" understanding they seem to achieve. Maybe, in some time we count "KDE" as another Linux distribution - the one that is KDE, instead of the one that ships with KDE.

Naming is somewhat confusing today. In the past, programs for X were prefixed with 'x' (famous exception: xargs); after KDE began its career, KDE programs began with 'k', and later on, this convention was changed so that KDE programs contained a 'k' in the name. Today, program naming - not only in KDE world - seems to be a process where artificially created words that do not stand in any relation with the program purpose become an established program name. I don't count abbreviations (such as Gimp) here. At least in Germany, users don't seem to be able to cope with those strange words that don't mean anything, and are hard to spell and to pronounce for Germans. (Keep in mind that german PC users are scared by anything that is not contained in their own language.) So "Amarok", "Krita", "Brasero", "Kopete" or "Gmencoder" may be excellent programs, but nobody likes them because of their stupid (sorry) names. But finally, KDE's german language support isn't that good at all...

Back on topic: The idea to focus on "KDE" representing more than a desktop environment (among others) isn't bad per se, but KDE should then be able to be experienced as "being more".

Good grief. Is KDE so bad off that it has to resort to "Kitchen Fresh Chicken" to get people hyped up about it. This is totally freaking lame. No, wait. It's not KDE. Let's call it "The Shack". You suck, KDE. Cross platform my foot.

What? That's not what compilation means. Look it up in the dictionary, it just means to gather things from different sources and organise them into a single body. There's nothing to imply "randomly thrown together" in that word.

Did you get hit bad by a GCC bug once or something? Or maybe you bought a lousy mix tape?

What? That's not what compilation means. Look it up in the dictionary, it just means to gather things from different sources and organise them into a single body. There's nothing to imply "randomly thrown together" in that word.

Did you get hit bad by a GCC bug once or something? Or maybe you bought a lousy mix tape?

a lousy mix tape?

I know there is nothing wrong with the word itself, it's the way it's commonly applied. The crappy mix tape is exactly what came to mind.

Well, if they have to call it a 'compilation' then it implies that the connection between the components is not obvious. That unfortunately tends to speak of 'stuff I threw together', but the KDE foundation wants to make it clear that KDE is a desktop AND libraries AND programs. You can use the programs without the desktop, and the libraries without the desktop. With this announcement, though, KDE looks less kohesive.

Previously they called it KDE 4.3. That was bad enough, and only the hard-core geeks could understand why a piece of software should be called something as brain-dead as the "K Desktop Environment".

But now you have to call it KDE SC 4.4. Just try to explain to non-geeks that you want them to try "KDE SC 4.4" and see how they like the name. It's an idiotic idea that successfully changes the unpronounceable to the uncomprehensible. Great job, guys!

Previously they called it KDE 4.3. That was bad enough, and only the hard-core geeks could understand why a piece of software should be called something as brain-dead as the "K Desktop Environment".

Were non-hard core geeks actually bothering to work out what KDE stood for anyway? I think not.

But now you have to call it KDE SC 4.4. Just try to explain to non-geeks that you want them to try "KDE SC 4.4" and see how they like the name. It's an idiotic idea that successfully changes the unpronounceable to the uncomprehensible. Great job, guys!

Are you having trouble with abbreviations in general if you find 'SC' to be 'uncomprehensible' (sic)?

The principle is that you take the first letter of each word in the thing you are trying to abbreviate and take the first letter capitalized. Hence, we can derive 'SC' from 'Software Compilation' as the first two letters of the two words are 'S' and 'C'.

However, if you don't think your target audience is familiar with the abbreviation it often makes sense to use the full original phrase.

In practice, the non-geek audience for KDE will probably never be exposed to the terms 'SC' or 'Software Compilation' because they will use a distro like Kubuntu, and 'Kubuntu' or 'OpenSuSe' will be what they think they are using.

Only if you are a geek tracking KDE releases will you ever come in contact with the term.